This invention relates generally to a system for visualizing data, and more particularly, to systems and methods that provide for a virtual flight visualization of a non-landscape object.
Typically, the visualization of 3-D medical scan data is performed using surface rendering or volume rendering. Surface rendering is well-suited for applications where segmentation of key structures is desired to provide good visualization, such as with MRI data. Surface rendering is also well-suited where a polygonal mesh can be wrapped around the segmented structures to form a surface model. Volume rendering is well-suited for applications where the assignment of color and opacity values are straight forward in light of the image voxel intensities. This is particularly true for CT data when there is a strong correlation between the Hounsfield units and tissue types.
Further, the rendering of medical scan data tends to be photo-realistic volume rendering which can be augmented using non-photo-realistic rendering. For example, functional information, such as the fMRI of the motor cortex, is colorized and overlaid on gray-scale anatomical data. Further, 3-D graphical cues can be added to guide trajectories during minimally invasive surgeries. Historically, the medical scan data has been presented in such a manner that promotes geometric realism.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide systems and methods for visualizing data which are not constrained by the need for geometric realism, but rather can exaggerate contrast using not only color, but also geometry.